According to data from the Northern Nevada Regional Multiple Listing Service, short sales posted the highest number of sales for June. In sales of residential, stick-built homes in the Reno-Sparks area there were 575 sales in June. Of that 43.2% were short sales, 33.6% traditional sales and 23.3% were REO/bank owned sales.
The median price of all sales in June in this category was $170,000. Median prices for traditional listings topped the charts at $219,950. Median for short sales was $151,000 and REO’s was $148,000. The average days on market for all lisitng types was 146 days. REO’s were on the market the least amount of time with an average of 85 days on market. Traditional sales averaged 109 days and short sales averaged 208 days.
Short sales have become very significant in our market. In June 2009 only 103 short sales closed, that is a 240% increase in the number of short sales that have closed this June over last June. Unfortunately the number of days on the market for short sales has not improved year over year – 204 days average last year compared to 208 days average this year. Although we would all like to see this improve, the complex nature of short sales may continue to keep these market times high.
Short sales are definitely a major part of our market. Working with an “experienced” short sale agent is key to the success of a transaction when either buying or selling a home today. Prospective buyers and sellers should ask their agent to show them how many transactions they have closed on either the buy or sell side of the transaction.
